Infinite Stratos  Re:Birth
by dwave
Summary: Focusing on the life of Hazuki Suou, another male than Orimura Ichika who's capable of using IS, following his first arrival in the IS Academy and how he view his surroundings.  - Comments, critics, and suggestions would be really appreciated.
1. Wings of Beginning

"So, I will repeat what has been taught to you yesterday. The IS, or Infinite Stratos, envelops the pilot's entire body in a barrier composed of energy. It has something similar to a will of its own. And through communicating with its pilot, the IS and the pilot will share a mutual understanding. Not only that, but the longer the IS piloted, it will also start to be more knowledgeable of the pilot's characteristic."

Just like what I've been expecting. Even though Sensei's repeating what she taught to me yesterday, this thing in front of me is still hard to understand.

"Don't view IS as a tool, but rather as a partner."

I don't get even the slightest bit of what she's trying to teach me. She's trying to tell me that this armor-like thingy would cover my whole body with something like energy-coating before allowing me to use it as I please? Is that even right? I don't get it even the slightest bit. I don't understand why IS pilots should learn about the basic theories of IS when they could just apply them during the practice. I mean, what's the point of studying the whole theories when you're aware that you won't apply it during the practice?

"How're you doing, Hazuki-kun? Do you think you can understand the whole concept of IS before starting to apply it during the practice?"

'More like, which theory should I apply during the practice, Sensei,' I thought as I sweat dropped. To be honest, I don't think I need the knowledge of the IS would envelop the pilot's body with something like energy-coating. Who cares about something like that when you're already wearing an IS? I bet everyone would be more eager to try flying around instead of analyzing how the energy-coating from the IS work to envelop the whole body of the pilot.

"Hazuki-kun?"

I could feel my brain's melting. I don't know how the other IS pilots managed to get through something like this. It's confusing, difficult to understand, and giving me head-ache. And... she's trying to me to make me memorize all of this in short time? This is hard...

"Hazuki-kun? Are you paying any attention, Hazuki-kun?"

"Ehh..."

"If you have any question, please don't hesitate and don't be afraid to ask. I'm your Sensei. So it's natural if you want to ask me if you don't understand something during our lesson."

"Sensei... I can barely understand this." I said to her as I gazed down and sweat dropping at the same time.

"E-Eehhh? B-But Hazuki-kun... i-it has been considered as necessary for all of the IS pilots to learn and understand the basics and the theories of IS before applying it directly to the IS during the practice. But co-considering that you're another male who's able to deploy an IS other that Orimura Ichika-kun, i-it's important for you to learn the basics of IS..."

"Sensei, I'm well aware that it's necessary to learn about all the basics of IS. But to be honest, I need more time to understand the whole concept."

She has her point. But personally, I don't think it's necessary to learn all of the basics and the theories of IS, especially when it's confusing, difficult to understand, and giving me head-ache like this. I mean, no one would normally count how much energy the IS would use once the pilots are engaging someone else during combat practice, isn't it? Personally, I'd be more bothered on how to take down my enemy during the combat practice instead of worrying about how much energy my IS would use during the combat practice.

This is confusing. This is difficult to understand. And it's making my head ache.

"I don't get it even the slightest bit..."

"M-Maybe we should take a small break, Hazuki-kun. Y-You'll have a twenty minutes recess and after that, we'll resume the lesson before continuing to the combat practice."

With a sigh of defeat, I simply gave a nod of approval before making my way out of that cramped room and headed to the rooftop. This is depressing. I didn't expect that it would be this hard to learn about the basics of IS. If only I could head back to the dojo right now, I would at least be able to calm my mind, even if it's just for a bit. Well, of course I'm happy knowing the fact that I'm another male who's able to use IS other than Orimura Ichika, well whoever he is, but I never expected that it's necessary to learn about the basics of IS like that.

It's confusing. It's difficult to understand. And it's making my head ache.

I gave another sigh as I placed a hand to my forehead. Thinking about something like that won't help easing the headache, so I better stop thinking about the difficult things and start learning how to enjoy it; given the fact that I've been chosen as the second Representative Cadet for Japan, the first one being Orimura Ichika.. well, whoever he is.

It's not like I'm not happy finding out about the fact that I've been chosen as the Second Representative Cadet for Japan, but still... I don't like the idea of needing to learn the basics and theories of IS when I could just apply it directly during the practice. However, the sound of the bell gave me the sign to head back to class, much to my annoyance. But since it can't be helped, I made my way down from the rooftop before finally heading to the classroom to study about the basics of IS. In the very end, I facepalmed almost until the very end of the lesson. It's still too difficult for my brain to understand. Not to mention that it's only been three days ever since the first time I start learning about the basics of IS.

Thankfully, Sensei's superior (I heard Sensei addressing her as Orimura Chifuyu-san; maybe she has a connection with Orimura Ichika-kun?) who appeared once the lesson has been ended said that it'd be the time for the combat practice. She also said something like she wanted to see for herself if I really fit to be sent to the IS Academy during the combat practice. Shortly, I followed both Sensei and that Orimura Chifuyu-san to the front yard of my school which because of the fact that it's Sunday evening, it's fairly empty.

Nothing but a large compartment could be seen upon the school yards and naturally, I arched an eyebrow at the sight.

As Sensei told me to wait at one side of the yard, I simply watched as Sensei and that Orimura Chifuyu-san made their way to the compartments; seemed to be talking about something along their way before eventually reaching the compartment and opening it - revealing an IS standing, ready to be deployed. Obviously, I cannot help but widening my eyes at the sight.

Taking a moment to notice the gesture from Sensei, I then made my way towards the two; still having my eyes placed at the IS standing in between Sensei and Orimura Chifuyu-san. Once I'm near them, I could feel that Orimura Chifuyu-san gazing at me and naturally, I tried not to look directly at her eyes - I could really tell that she's a scary person by nature.

"Your name?"

"Hazuki... Hazuki Suou."

"Height?"

"Five feet seven inches-"

"Weight?"

"Fi-Fity three kilograms."

"Hair color, black. Eye color, emerald green. Hmm... average, huh? Well, that should be enough data for now. Moving on, I'm Orimura Chifuyu, a teacher and also an instructor in the IS Academy. This evening I'll be watching your combat practice to determine if it's really necessary for you to learn in the IS Academy or not. Despite the fact that you've been given the status of the Second Representative IS Cadet of Japan by the local government, if your ability has been considered as lacking, that status will be taken."

Adults... they sure love to tell something like this in the very last minute.

"This will be your personal IS if you manage to make it through the combat practice and prove yourself worthy enough to learn in the IS Academy, it's called Seiryuu."

Seiryuu... the Eastern Azure Dragon, huh? Talk about using mythological name here. Well, it's not like I'd complain about it or anything. As long as it's not an odd name or anything, I'm cool.

"Hurry up and equip it," I could hear the voice of Chifuyu-san again, "We don't have the whole day. You'll have to do the Format Fitting first too after you equip it too, so better make it quick."

Just like what she instructed (and mainly because I have no resolve to say anything to refuse her since she's scary), I quickly get changed into the uniform for IS practice, a black tank top and tight-fitting bermudas. It kinda feels tight around my body, but maybe it's because I'm not used to it. Once I'm done changing, I make my way back to the front yard only to find Sensei there. When I asked her about Chifuyu-san, she said that Chifuyu-san excused herself for a moment, saying that she'll get the one who'll be my enemy during the combat practice.

At that, I can't help but giving a sigh. Hopefully the one who'll be my tester during the combat practice would know how to hold back.

Putting all that aside, I then shifted my attention towards the so-called Seiryuu; taking a moment before extending a hand and placing it to the center of Seiryuu. There's a sudden light feeling and warmth coursing through my body that I pulled my hand back in an instant because of the surprise.

"What's wrong, Hazuki-kun?" I could hear Sensei's voice, asking me in a somewhat worried tone.

I shook my head, trying to assure her that I'm fine. It's just... it feels slightly different compared to the first time I touched an IS. It's like I'm touching something that's solely made for my personal use. You know, it's like having something that's been designed so you're the only one who can use it kind of thing. Something like that. Well, you probably don't get what I mean but to be honest, I don't really get it myself.

Regarding the fact about the first time I touched an IS, it would be connected to how I got to know about IS for the first time, but unfortunately, I'll need to save it for another time because I could hear Sensei telling me to equip Seiryuu because she's ready to help doing the Format Fitting (whatever that is - I don't really know because I don't really understand about the basics and the theories of IS).

"Now please get into Seiryuu and relax your back, Hazuki-kun."

Just as Sensei instructed, I got into the Seiryuu and relax my back.

"Just relax, the system will calibrate the rest so you don't have to worry. Sensei will make sure that nothing wrong would happen too, alright?"

I said nothing, but I gave her a nod.

[ ACCESS ]

[ SYSTEM START ]

'Seiryuu, huh...?' I thought as all the layouts of Seiryuu now being visualized in front of me via holographic screens, 'So this is...Seiryuu...'

"Your opponent's IS is called ShenLong. It's an IS designed for CQC, just like your Seiryuu."

"CQC?"

"CQC stands for Close-Quarter-Combat, Hazuki-kun. Moving on, all of the IS has been equipped with a system called Ultimate Defense. This system is designed to protect the pilot's life even in a worst case scenario."

Oi, oi... are you saying that I could die from this? Seriously?

"However, it will consume a lot of field energy during the process."

Field energy, it's something like an extra-energy-coating for the IS that's protecting both the pilot and IS from direct damage, isn't it?

"How are you feeling now, Hazuki-kun?"

"Even though I don't understand it completely, I think I get the gist of it. Basically, I just need to make sure I would be able to defeat my opponent while making sure I'm able to dodge the attacks coming to me too, isn't it?"

"We-Well, to put it in short, it would be like that, Hazuki-kun."

The tone of your voice's not convincing me at all, Sensei.

Putting aside the fact that I want to complain to Sensei because the tone of her voice's not convincing me, I shifted my attention to the side as I heard the sound of people walking. I could see Chifuyu-san now dragging a girl along with her. I suppose it's a girl around my age even though she seemed to be smaller than me. How should I describe her? A young teenage girl with light brown hair tied in twintails with a yellow ribbon at both sides. She is quite petite (well, to be honest, she's small) compared to me, Sensei, and Chifuyu-san. (I think, to be precise) she wears the IS Academy uniform, even though it seems to be a little different compared to the normal uniform, I suppose. You see, the sleeves are detached, so it's different, isn't it?

"How're you doing, Hazuki?" that's the first thing Chifuyu-san said to me once she reached a spot near Seiryuu, "How's the Format Fitting?"

"Well, I suppose I'm good. I'm ready to go."

"Good," I heard her voice again, to be honest, finding it a little hard to take my eyes away from the petite girl that she's been dragging along, "This girl here, she will be your opponent during the combat practice. She is the Representative Cadet from China, Huang Lingyin."

Seriously? For my first combat practice, I'd be up against the Representative Cadet from China? I could really see that my luck's placed under the bad stars for today...

"But Orimura-sensei I don't want to fight him!" that voice belongs to that Representative Cadet from China. I'm a bit surprised that she's actually thinking like that. I thought most of the Representative Cadet would say something like 'This will be a cinch' or maybe something like 'I won't hold back' or something like 'I'm not holding back now'. Well, something like those.

"You went overboard and caused a ruckuss in the IS Academy last week. Have you forgotten that you've agreed to come along with me as your punishment?" the fact that the tone of Chifuyu-san's voice went a little high caused me to flinch a bit; she's really scary, "I've made the decision that if you help me testing him right now, it would be enough to lighten your punishment."

"But he's completely new to IS! Don't you think that I'm facing him would be a little too much?"

"Are you saying that as the Representative Cadet of China, you're afraid of losing to someone who's completely new to IS?"

After a few minutes of arguing with Chifuyu-san, that Huang Lingyin girl eventually agreed to face me as her opponent. But to be honest, deep inside I'm hoping that she'd take it easy. After all, she's the Representative Cadet who's obviously stronger and far more experienced compared to me, right? Things just couldn't be any worse if she's not holding back during our combat practice later.

It took a few minutes before she finally got back from changing (well, she said that she'd change into the uniform for IS practice first, after all), but when she got back she's already fully equipped with her IS, the one that was called ShenLong by Sensei if I'm not mistaken. Looking at all of the armaments equipped to her IS, I can't help but gave a defeated sigh.

"Getting hit by that would be really painful.." I whispered, mostly to myself.

Putting all that matter aside, Chifuyu-san finally allowed me to get used to Seiryuu first (Sensei gave a me a brief explanation about how to move using the IS, how to properly move the limbs, how to fly properly, and about the armaments equipped to my Seiryuu), before repeating the instruction from earlier.

"The two of you, move to the designated position."

In no time, we're already up above in the air; facing each other and waiting for further instruction given by Chifuyu-san.

"There's still a chance to go back and surrender," I could hear the girl's voice (who's her name again? Huang Lingyin?) whispering to me (well, I won't really call it whispering, but since it's only audible enough for the two of us, I think it could be considered as whispering) and it resulted to me shifting my attention to her, "If you still insist to move forward right now, I won't hold back, you know."

To be honest, I'm tempted to take her offer. I mean, wouldn't you be creeped out if you know that your first opponent in your very first combat practice is a Representative IS Cadet from another country that's (obviously) stronger and far more experienced than you? But still...

"Fine by me," I said to her, bracing myself for every single possibility that might happen during this combat practice.

"Let me tell you this first then," I heard her voice again, "The Absolute Defense is not perfect. If there's enough force to get through the shield, I can torture you just enough until you admit your defeat."

Her words creeped me out. But nonetheless, I managed to not show it in my facial expression. If I chickened out here, I'm dead for sure. Drastic situation calls for drastic measures. When you don't know what to do, use your instinct. That's exactly what I'm gonna do.

"First of all," that's Chifuyu-san's voice, "Let me tell you that this is just a combat practice. I won't hold the two of you back if the two of you want to go all out, but remember that all unnecessary damage wouldn't be tolerated. I hope the two of you could keep that in mind. Now, let the match begin."

I watched in silence as the girl in front of me drew a large scimitar from the back of her IS. A large scimitar, huh? Weapon.. weapon... where's the weapon?

[ EQUIPMENT SELECTION - FUTAGORYUU ]

A holographic screen appeared in front of me, showing that a rather wide sword is available to use. Futagoryuu... a katana, is it? Just what I need. At least using a katana like this wouldn't make all of my practice for getting better in swordsmanship gone to waste. But looking at the size, it's a bit too wide to be called a katana. Well, I guess it's still better than nothing.

"A scimitar against a katana, huh? It seems that just like mine, your IS has been designed for close range combat. You better brace yourself then."

I ignored her words and took no time to charge forward, only to widen my eyes the slightest bit when she dodged my attack with little to no effort. That was the best dash I could give using this Seiryuu too. Perhaps the level of a newbie like me is really different compared to the level of an actual Representative IS Cadet. But still...

I took no time to charge towards her again, clenching my teeth slightly when I noticed that she's not dodging again but instead parrying my katana with her scimitar; taking little to no time to try and push her back only to no avail.

"You're quite fast for a first time IS pilot, I have to say that I'm impressed. However, I don't have only one weapon here!"

If I didn't quickly push myself back, I'm sure I'd already lost my head. Well, it might be exaggerating since Sensei already told me about the Absolute Defense system, but considering the fact that this girl already told me that the Absolute Defense system isn't perfect, it'd be best to be careful.

Even though she almost sliced my head off of my body (not literally, but that doesn't change the fact that it's creeping me out), she didn't give any further attack; as if waiting for me to attack her again. For her to actually be able to equip another large scimitar only in a matter of second.. dual scimitars, are those the weapons specially designed for her IS? This is bad, no matter how hard I try to think about it, it still doesn't make sense.. I guess I'm just bad at thinki-

"If you're not gonna attack, I'll do it!"

Once again, my instinct was the one who saved me from being split into two (once again, not literally). If I didn't instinctively parry her scimitars with my katana, I think I'd be thrown down into the ground and make another unnecessary crater. This is bad...

I pushed her back again to gain at least a safe distance, trying to think of the best way on how to handle her troublesome scimitars. But she didn't give me that chance as she quickly dashed towards me and along the way, combining her scimitars together into double-bladed scimitar form - much to my surprise. Seriously?

Along the way, I did nothing but dodging most of her attacks. At this rate, it's a matter of who wears out first. And I can't simply give a counter-attack against her too. If i were to attack her, she'd detach her double-bladed scimitar and change her battle style into close-range combat. But if I keep dodging like this, I wouldn't be able to win too. Even keeping a safe distance from her would be pointless if she keep charging towards me with her scimitars ready to attack like that. But at least, keeping a safe distance would give me enough time to think...

"Naive."

That was the last thing I heard from her before I crashed into the ground. Something impacted against Seiryuu and caused it to lose the balance and eventually crashed into the ground. I took a moment to brace myself before pushing myself up, trying to gather my wits together as I put up a question, mostly for myself, "What was that just now?"

"For your information, that was my Dragon Cannon."

"... Dragon Cannon?"

"It's another term given for Impact Canon, Hazuki-kun," I can't even hear Sensei's voice clearly through Seiryuu's sytem, I must've hit my head real bad when I crashed into the ground earlier; but nonetheless, I gave my best to try and listen to her as I'm still trying to gather my wits together, "It compacts and pressurizes space before firing it as a shell to the opponent."

What, she said that her IS was designed for close range combat but now she got that Impact Cannon whatsoever already equipped? That's cheating, you know...

"You blocked well. If you didn't use your katana earlier, maybe your shield energy would suffer much more damage compared to now."

If it continues like this, I'm gone for good...

"Well, let me tell you this as a bonus. The specialty of my Dragon Cannon lies in the fact that both the barrel and the bullet are invisible to the naked eye. Furthermore, the angles of the barrel of Dragon Cannon have no effect as to where it can shoot."

In other words... there's no blind spot, huh? That explains the sudden collision that doesn't give me even enough time to react even though Seiryuu's already warning me about the oncoming attack. I didn't manage to react to it because it was invisible. Even though I understand all that now, that doesn't solve how I should take care of it. Of all the things I could possibly think on how to outsmart her Dragon Cannon, the best thing I could think of is to strike her first before she manages to shoot me using that.

The only weapon I have here is Futagoryuu, a katana. I don't know if it's just a coincidence or what, but it's the most suitable for someone who's been spending several years in the dojo training for swordsmanship like me. I have my own reasons of why I ended up learning swordsmanship in the first place, but now's not the right time to think about that. I better focus on defeating her first.

Even though I said it would be better if she's going easy on me, now that things have been turned out like this, I can't help but feeling fired up. The feeling of not wanting lose overwhelmed my fear. Eventually I stopped running and dodging all of her attacks, now once again face to face with her with Futagoryuu ready in front of me.

"Your name... Huang Lingyin, isn't it?" I started.

"Rin is enough. What is it?"

"Oi, Hazuki," I didn't manage to say anything to Rin because I could hear Chifuyu-san's voice through Seiryuu's system; unable to help but dividing my concentration between avoiding Rin's attack and listening to her at the same time, "Judging from the tone of your voice, it seems that you already have something ready to fight her. Do you already have a plan? You're well aware that staying too far from her would cause her to use her Dragon Cannon, but you're also aware that you can outmatch her dual scimitars if you engage her in close range combat, isn't it?"

I won't deny the fact that despite I'm talking like that, I'm still thinking of how to outsmart Rin's Dragon Cannon, "Just because I'm out of options, that wouldn't be a reason for me to give up...!"

"I got you!"

That very moment, I realized that Rin already got close enough to me and took no time to shoot Seiryuu with her Dragon Cannon. As I braced myself for the impact, I can't help but widening my eyes when I notice that I'm not thrown into the ground again. And I could see a holographic screen in front of me.

[ FORMAT FITTING - COMPLETE ]

Format fitting complete? What's the meaning of this...?

"The First Shift, is it?" I could hear Chifuyu-san's voice through Seiryuu's system once again; she seemed to be amused after seeing that I'm perfectly fine even after receiving the impact from Rin's Dragon Cannon, "I thought that when I come back the Format Fitting has been completed. I didn't expect you to actually be able to hold against Rin with the default setting of the IS."

Well, I don't know what you mean by saying that Seiryuu was in default mode... but you're already aware about the possibility that Seiryuu's still in default mode but you're not even telling me about it? Are you attempting to make me lose because of the difference in level and power, Chifuyu-san?

"I don't really understand what happened... but judging from this light feeling coming from Seiryuu, I guess it's finally become used to me. I suppose I could at least do something instead of just being chased around right now."

"I respect your guts. Let me give you a hint then, just this once. You're having trouble against Rin's dual weapons, right? Think, there's a reason of why your sword is being called Futagoryuu."

That was the last thing I heard from her before she closed the connection and I ended up avoiding yet another swing from Rin's dual scimitar, much to my surprise. There's a reason of why the sword is called Futagoryuu. Don't tell me...

"Seiryuu, Equipment Selection!"

[ FUTAGORYUU - DUAL MODE ]

A holographic screen appeared in front of me, showing that Futagoryuu could be detached into two thinner energy blades. Dual mode, is it...?

That very moment, Futagoryuu split into two thinner energy blades, much to my own surprise. So that's the meaning of the name Futagoryuu - Twin Dragons, huh? Dual blades designed solely for close range combat. Even though I'm not that experienced in using dual swords, this should be more than enough to be able to battle her scimitars in par. If I'm careful enough, maybe I could outsmart and defeat her along the way.

"This is really a bother, I'll end this quickly!"

For some reason, I could read all the patterns of Rin's attacks easier than before. I too could move Seiryuu much easier compared than before. I don't know why but it feels like it's natural for me to be able to ride Seiryuu like this. In no time, I managed to caught her off guard the very moment she detached her scimitars to block my katanas, I took that very moment as the chance to disarm her - causing her scimitars to fall away.

"Futagoryuu, combine!"

[ FUTAGORYUU - SINGLE MODE ]

She's the one who said that with enough force, one could get through the Absolute Defense system. It's not like I really want to injure her, but at least it would be enough for her not to underestimate me like before. Combining Futagoryuu into one single sword like its base form, I took no time to swung Futagoryuu towards her - only to widen my eyes when I realize that she's already charging her Dragon Cannon right in front of me.

Our attacks collided.

When I come back to my senses, I'm once again down upon the ground. I'm dizzy and my vision's blurring. The impact must be really hard until it resulted to something like this. It's even harder than before, gathering my wits back together, that is. But nonetheless, at least I've placed one good strike to that Representative Cadet from China.

I could see nothing but smoke in front of me, but one thing for sure, I can't help but widening my eyes because once the smoke got clear, I could see her standing right in front of me; not even budging. What I thought was a 'good strike' only took down one of her Dragon Cannon - other than that, I couldn't even spot a scratch on her.

"You sure put up a good fight, newbie..." those suddenly lifeless eyes of hers when she looked at me caused me to flinch - what is she now, a Yandere? And the fact that she's charging her other Dragon Cannon doesn't help even the slightest bit, "Let me end this right here and right now for goo-"

"Alright, that's enough!"

I can't be more grateful than now for hearing Chifuyu-san's voice. I shifted my sight to the side only to find her and Sensei already making their way towards me and Rin, much to my relief. As Chifuyu-san told Rin to get ShenLong into standby mode (I'm not really sure how she did that, the ShenLong sort of vanished and leaving her only with her IS practice uniform), Sensei helped me getting off Seiryuu; saying it would need further maintenance because it might've received a lot of damage during the combat practice with ShenLong.

Well, if Seiryuu were to need further maintenance, I wouldn't be so surprised. Considering the fact that I'm completely new in using it, it can't be helped. Once I managed to take off Seiryuu, I could feel Chifuyu-san's gaze upon me so I took no time to gaze at her as well (well, not directly. Who knows if she's going to get angry with me, saying that I'm reckless or telling me that I've caused unnecessary damage to the school properties, right?).

But much to my surprise, I heard a small chuckle from her and the next words from her surprised me the most, "You've put up a good fight, Hazuki. I have to admit that you have guts. You will be informed about the result tomorrow, so you better brace yourself."

Cut me some slack, will you?

"Alright, I'll leave Hazuki in your care, Sensei."

"Haii."

"Rin, we're going back to the IS Academy."

"But Sensei, I'm not done yet with him-"

"Rin, I'm not asking you to go back with me to the IS Academy. I'm TELLING you to do it."

Even Rin flinched the moment the tone of Chifuyu-san's voice got higher and I can't help but putting up a weak smile. Well, I've been saved by Chifuyu-san today. Considering the Absolute Defense system, I can't say that I was saved, but who knows what would happen to Seiryuu's Absolute Defense system if I were to take the impact from Rin's Dragon Cannon in point-blank range. And so, Chifuyu-san left me and Sensei, promising that she would inform us once the result come in before dragging Rin along to the vehicle they used to get here from the IS Academy.

I don't know if I should feel disappointed for losing or I should feel grateful for the fact that my limbs are still intact. Today's been rough. I hope God would be kind enough to cut me some slack tomorrow.

* * *

><p>Tomorrow afternoon, I found myself in a completely foreign place, much to my own surprise.<p>

"Alright, now we will begin the homeroom~" the voice of that Sensei seemed to be filled with no worries as she walked past me and entering the classroom, much to my annoyance. I'm surprised at how adults could adapt to this kind of thing really easily. Right now I'm standing in front of the class 1-2, in the IS Academy. It turned out that the result from the combat practice yesterday evening was good enough and Chifuyu-san informed me that it would be necessary for me to study in the IS Academy to develop my potentials.

Well, maybe it's not that bad to learn in an almost-all-girls school like this. Judging from what I've heard from Chifuyu-san on our way here, Orimura Ichika-kun (I'm still not sure about his connection with Chifuyu-san, but I'm suspecting that he's her younger brother. I know everyone would be thinking of why I didn't just ask her about it but believe me, if you were in my place, you won't be able to ask her about that even just for a bit) and I would be the only ones serving as the male students of IS Academy. Doesn't sound that bad.

"Today, I'll be introducing a new transfer student!"

The door slide open and I made my way inside of the classroom. Even though I'm completely new in this foreign place, I should at least be able to give a good impression to everyone. Judging from the fact that the IS Academy is an almost-all-girls school, I shouldn't take it easy. A bad first impression and I'm gone for good.

Man, I could feel all of them staring at me.

"I'm Hazuki Suou," I started, "I'm from Japan, Chiba Prefecture to be precise. N-Nice to meet you all."

"A male...?"

"Ye-Yeah.. I'm a male for sure-"

Before I even managed to finish my sentence, the fact that almost all girls in the class started shouting and cheering almost caused me to jump back in surprise. What's wrong with them? Did hell just got loose or something?

"A male student!"

"And this time, it's the second male student!"

"It's too bad that Orimura-kun is not in our class, but now I'm fine because we have our own male student now!"

What am I? An object?

Just when I thought that things couldn't get out of hand more than now, the door slide open once again and a very familiar voice said, "Sorry, sorry, I'm late! I caught up with something on my way here so I-"

Just like me, the owner of that very familiar voice stopped talking the very moment she saw me. I narrowed my eyes and practically have my mouth in a rectangular shape, sweat dropping at the same time - before facepalming.

"You! The one from yesterday!"

To learn the fact that I'm studying in the same class with my enemy during combat practice yesterday evening...

"God, cut some me some slack, please..."


	2. Shinkirō

All of you might not believe this, but to be honest, I've been kicked out of the class. Literally. Why? To be exact, because of all the girls are going to change into their IS practice uniform in the class, so the boys should head out and change somewhere else. I don't find it to be a problem to change somewhere else, the main problem is I don't know where to change.

'We will be doing IS practice together with Class One. Everyone, change quickly and gather up at school ground two.' That's what Sensei said before telling me that I should use the changing room in the Arena.

Well, it's not like I'd prefer staying in the class while watching all those girls changing from their school uniform into their IS practice uniform. But I'm a perfectly healthy young boy, so of course I'd be tempted to at least peek or have a glimpse or something like that knowing that right now I'm standing in front of my own class where inside, a lot of girls are changing. But remembering the fact that the Representative Cadet of China who faced me during the combat practice yesterday, the one called Huang Lingyin, actually in the same class as me, I wouldn't want to risk my head rolling along the floor just because I cannot overcome the temptation to peek.

"This is really getting out of hand..." I sighed as I rubbed my forehead with one hand, not sure about what should I do. It's only been a few hours ever since I arrive in the IS Academy. If I start wandering around without any clue about where I should go, I'm certain that I'll be lost for sure. This is hard... not only learning the basics and theories of IS that's hard... but this place's really huge that I'm sure someone with a bad sense of direction like me would get lost really easily...

"Oh, you're the rumored Transfer Student?"

A male's voice?

"I'm Orimura Ichika, nice to meet you."

"Hazuki, Hazuki Suou. Nice to meet you too."

So he's Orimura Ichika, the First Representative Cadet of Japan, and also the other male capable of operating an IS like me? Doesn't seem like a bad person.

"You're from Class Two, right? I'm from Class One, so for today our class will be having IS practice together."

So there's a chance that I'll be up against him? I'm a goner.

"For the time being, let's go to the Arena. It wouldn't be good to keep everyone waiting, especially when Chifuyu-nee's the one supervising us."

I can tell about that pretty much. Chifuyu-san's really a scary person by nature- wait. 'He's addressing Chifuyu-san as Chifuyu-nee?' I thought as I followed behind him (heading to the so-called Arena, I suppose), 'I'm not wrong for thinking that this Orimura Ichika is the younger brother of Chifuyu-san. At least one of my questions has been answered... indirectly.'

But really, even though I can pretty much tell that this Orimura Ichika is related with that Chifuyu-san, who would expect that their personalities are actually in contrast?

"We'll have to move from the Class to the changing room in the Arena for every practice session. It would be better if you get used to it."

As long as I'm able to remember the direction, I'm pretty sure it would be easy, "Sure thing."

It doesn't take really long until we reached the changing room in the so-called Arena. Even though it's called an Arena, it doesn't seem to have any special facility or something like that in the place. The changing room seemed plain too. And to be honest, it takes quite some time to get here from the classroom too. Now I understand why he told me about getting used to move from the classroom to this place whenever my class is about to do IS practice. The distance and all would take quite some of my time changing from school uniform into IS practice uniform. But well, it's not like I'm going to complain about it.

"Thanks for guiding me along."

"Don't mention it. The fact that you come along to study in this school helped me a lot, actually."

I'm studying here helped him a lot? How? What does he mean?

"Being the sole male in this school is pretty tough you know."

Somehow I can understand that. With a girl like Rin running around ready to blast your head off with the armaments of her IS whenever you (accidentally or not) piss her off, it would be definitely dangerous to just run around randomly without any purpose, "Ye-Yeah, I can see about that."

"So once again, nice to meet you. I'm Orimura Ichika, just call me Ichika."

"The same with me. Just call me Suou, nice to meet you too."

"We better change quickly, else Chifuyu-nee wouldn't hesitate to give us a punishment."

Hearing that, combined with my fear to Chifuyu-san, I took no time to get changed. It doesn't take really long until the two of us are done changing and since the two of us are boys, we have no qualms changing near each other. Well, fujoshi might think about something different.. but for now, let's not focus on something like that. Fujoshi are scary, anyways. Their imagination creeps the hell outta me.

Well, putting the creepy thought aside, both Ichika and myself quickly make our way to the school ground just like what has been instructed by our respective homeroom teachers. Once there, we took no time to line up along with our respective classes, waiting for further instruction.

"We will begin the practice for today."

Just like what I suspected, Chifuyu-san was the homeroom teacher for Class One; and she's the one who's supervising the whole IS practice for today too. Hopefully she won't give me a hard time like yesterday.

"First of all, we will be watching a combat practice. Hazuki, Alcott."

She chose me without even thinking twice?

"Haii?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"The two of you have been assigned with your own personal machines, so the two of you should be able to begin the combat practice immediately."

'Assigned by my own personal machine... oh, you mean this necklace around my neck?' I thought as I placed the tip of my index finger upon it. How should I put it? The necklace in itself is shaped like a miniature sword, probably a play to Seiryuu's armament, a katana. It's kinda odd, considering how something as big as an IS could be converted into something as small as this necklace. But really, considering the technology nowadays, I shouldn't be too surprised. But I won't deny the fact that it's kinda odd.

"Alright, now the two of you come forth!"

"I don't feel too encouraged after hearing the rumor that my opponent is completely new to IS. It would be just like I'm showing off."

I can hear you perfectly clear from here!

"You might be saying something like that right now, Alcott. But I believe that you've been taught not to underestimate your opponent. You remember what happened the last time you said something like that, aren't you?"

"We-Well, if Orimura-Sensei already said something like that, it cannot be helped then. This shall be the stage for me, the Representative Cadet of England, Cecilia Alcott. Be grateful that you've been given the honor to face me!"

I sighed in defeat. During my first combat practice, I was up against the Representative Cadet from China and now, during the second combat practice, I'm up against the Representative Cadet from England? I'm well aware that I asked Chifuyu-san to help me get better in using IS when we're on our way to the IS Academy this morning, but I never expected that she would actually ask me to face the other Representative Cadets head on during the combat practice!

"And this will also be a great chance to show the difference in both level and skill as personal machine holders."

Go easy on me, please.

"And my opponent shall be?"

"E-Ehm, I'm Hazuki Suou, the Second Representative Cadet of Japan."

"Well then, I shall say that I'm perfectly fine with fighting against Hazuki-san here."

I don't really know what to say in return...

"Alright, you two. No need to rush. Prepare both of your IS and now get ready."

Just like what Chifuyu-san instructed, the two of us prepared our own IS. Judging from her gesture, I suspect the standby form of that Cecilia's IS is the earring upon her left ear. I saw her touching it for a second before her IS start forming around her body. Well, no need to worry about that for now. I took no time to touch my own necklace and allowing Seiryuu to equip itself around my body.

"Let me give you an information," as we moved to take a higher spot above the school ground, I shifted my attention to Cecilia after hearing her saying that, "It'd be highly obvious for me to attain a perfect victory. Even if you give this practice your best, it would still be impossible for you to defeat me."

"We won't know until we try." I might be big mouthing here, but judging from what I've experienced during the combat practice with Rin yesterday, I should at least be able to pull something off during this practice.

"Well, that is too bad. For you that is, Hazuki-san. I won't be holding myself back now."

Judging from all the holographic screens that Seiryuu's visualizing in front of me, Cecilia's IS is called Blue Tears. It's a Sniper Type IS, excelling in middle-to-long range combat. To put it in short, I won't be able to attack it unless I manage to get close to it, given the fact that my Seiryuu is an IS that's specially designed for close range combat. I would love to think more about how to take care of that troublesome ability of her IS, but unfortunately the red-colored holographic warning screen that suddenly visualizes in front of me caused me to clench my teeth.

[ WARNING : ENEMY IS SWITCHING TO SHOOTING MODE ]

"Say goodbye!"

In an instant, I quickly dashed to the side; avoiding a shot from Cecilia's Blue Tears just in time. If that warning screen didn't appear earlier, I'm pretty sure I would be thrown back and worse, might crash into the ground. Well, looking at her armaments, it's not as big as Rin's ShenLong so the impact might be not as severe as ShenLong's Dragon Cannon. But still, if possible, I would prefer not getting hit.

"Seiryuu, Equipment Selection!"

[ EQUIPMENT SELECTION - FUTAGORYUU ]

"A sword? You're quite foolish for thinking that you'd be able to defeat a Sniper with a mere sword!"

I tried my best to ignore her words, parrying her shots every now and then - even though I'm not really sure how it works and how I actually manage to parry it. But the more I think of it, her sniper rifle is a laser-based rifle; so the shots must be similar to Rin's Dragon Cannon, only taking the form of a compact and pressurized laser before firing it as a bullet to the opponent. Given the fact that Futagoryuu's blades are energy-based, I suppose it would be able to parry it. And thankfully, it's able to.

But even if I'm able to parry it, Futagoryuu's blades are not strong enough to hold against the impact so every time I parry, I would be thrown back and having the distance between my Seiryuu and her Blue Tears increased even more.

"I admire your courage to actually be brave enough to parry those shots. But just like what I have told you earlier, resistance is futile, Hazuki-san!"

Just when I thought I'd be able to do something to take care of her sniping ability, several parts of the wings of her IS detached itself before rotating around - taking little to no time before starting to chasing me around while giving me a barrage of attacks at the same time. There's little to nothing that I can do at a situation like this, so for the time being, the best thing that I could do is to take a safe distance and think of how-

"What are you doing, stupid? Dodge her attacks and put back a counterattack!"

I recognize that familiar voice... Rin was the one shouting that, telling me what's the best to do (well, in a way). To be honest, I'd like to do just like what she suggested, to dodge all of her attacks and put back a counterattack to Cecilia's Blue Tears. But right now I got my hands full with trying to avoid all of the shots from her drones.

"Don't forget about me, Hazuki-san!"

Something impacted against Seiryuu, throwing me back in the process even though it's not as severe like the time where Rin's Dragon Cannon impacted against me. At least it's not causing me to crash to the ground like yesterday; but sure it depleted quite an amount of shield energy.

"You should be honored, Hazuki-san. You have been chosen as the one to dance to the waltz orchestrated by Blue Tears and I, Cecilia Alcott!"

This is bad, while Seiryuu's warning me about all of the attacks coming from the drones, I almost didn't pay any attention when Seiryuu's warning me about the attack coming from Cecilia. I'm still unable to catch up with Seiryuu's response.

"I don't understand how you've been chosen as the Second Representative Cadet of Japan, but surely you're at pure disadvantage while facing me and my Blue Tears! To be honest, I don't think you're suitable to be chosen as the Representative Cadet of Japan, Hazuki-san. Your ability is obviously lower than even Ichika-san, not to mention that you can't even perform boost properly."

I can't perform boost... properly? That explains of why I'm unable to catch up with most of Seiryuu's responses.

"Not only that you're lacking in your IS ability as it was designed solely for the sake of close range combat, your lack of ability to boost up properly and accelerate the movements of your IS has given enough proof that you have no chance to attain victory from me, Cecilia Alcott!"

If this goes on, it would really result to my defeat in no time. Even though I have Futagoryuu ready here in my hand, it would be pointless if I can't manage to get close to her. The best thing I could do right now is to ignore all the drones and strike her head on.

Even though I've been thinking about that for quite a while, I cannot deny the fact that I'm still looking for a clue of how to attack her while dodging all this drones all at the same time.

"Resistance is futile, Hazuki-san!"

I know about that already! Wait a minute... even though she said that, why is she not attacking me? I mean, why is she not striking me with her sniper rifle like before? Could it be...

"Futagoryuu, split!"

[ FUTAGORYUU - DUAL MODE ]

Right after Futagoryuu split into two thinner energy blades, I halted my movement for a few second before striking down one of the drones. Just as expected, the other drones stopped moving the moment I struck it down.

"I think I finally get the gist of it! Cecilia, your drones won't move without your input! It requires a high amount of concentration to focus all those drones into one target while chasing and attacking at the same time! At the same time, because of the amount of concentration that you're having, you have no choice but staying stationary instead of moving around like before!"

"Kn-Knowing all of that won't help much during a fight where you're having a pure disadvantage, Hazuki-san!"

Now that I know it that much, I can focus on either taking her down before her drones manage to catch up with me or taking her drones first before making my way to take her down.

"If I can't take them down all at once, I just need take them down one after another!" I shouted as I strike one drone at a time, before finally boosting towards her in order to take her down, "Once I got closer, you won't be able to snipe me and I'll have the upper hand!"

"Even though I'm not pleased to know that I didn't manage to take you down with only drones and my sniper rifle, at least you finally fell for this trap, Hazuki-san."

I can't help but suddenly stopping on my way when I realized her Blue Tears now pointing two empty barrels at me before launching two missiles at the same time. That instant, I boosted myself back; trying to get a safe distance.

"Resistance is futile, Hazuki-san. Those are no ordinary missiles, but target-seeking missiles to be precise. There's no chance to avoid them once you've been scanned by Blue Tears's enemy scanner."

In the other words, unless I take them down, I have no chance to take her down? Well, at least the missiles aren't being controlled like the drones. There's always a small possibility of the drones dodging when you attack it if those drones are being remotely controlled by someone. Taking those missiles down should be easier than the drones. For the time being, I should go faster than these missiles first since they're focused solely on chasing and hitting me.

I took no time to boost forward, somehow being reminded at how Cecilia commented that I can't perform boost properly earlier. What she said was partly true. I still find it quite difficult to boost forward in the place where it has no footing. While prompting myself to move forward faster, at the same time, I too have to keep Seiryuu in balance or there's a possibility that I might crash into something while boosting forward. The reason of why I cannot perform boost properly while using Seiryuu is not because it's too heavy, rather because it's too light that while boosting forward it might lose the balance almost anytime if I'm not careful.

I performed a sudden loop in the air just in time to prevent one of the missiles from crashing into Seiryuu. For some reason, I get the feeling that Seiryuu's actually able to go even faster than this. Faster, faster, and even faster-

"I got you!"

That was the last thing I heard before something impacted against me; powerful enough to send me down crashing into the ground. When I regained my sense, a holographic screen appeared in front of me and I can't help but giving a sigh of defeat.

[ SHIELD ENERGY - 0% ]

[ EMPTY - NOT SHIELDED ]

Losing again for the second time, huh..? This is really depressing...

"Just like what I expected from earlier! This is a perfect win by me, the Representative Cadet of England, Cecilia Alcott!"

That annoying Ojou-sama type laugh is seriously ticking me off.

"I would suggest you to have some more practice before going against me again in the future, Hazuki-san."

Yeah, I would really consider doing that. Just when I think that things couldn't get worse, that's when I spotted a petite figure making her way towards me and grabbing me by the collar of my IS practice uniform, shaking me back and forth.

"Aaahh~ What are you doing, stupid? Why are you taking her lightly like that? Of all the people, why do you have to lose this IS duel when facing against an enemy like her? You can just boost forward and attack her the moment you managed to avoid her missiles! Why are you taking your time to boost around with no real purpose and not even considering attacking her?"

Well, I would love to do that but it's slightly tricky if I were to apply it directly.

"This can't be helped. You will be having a proper practice with me every day after school! You're really making me embarrassed to know that you're actually a Representative IS Cadet just like me! Even though I don't like you, I can't have you embarrassing our class like this!"

I still haven't get the whole IS thing so go easy on me, please.

"Alright. That should be enough for all of you to see."

I would appreciate it if you stop the fight from even earlier, Chifuyu-san.

"From here on, we will continue with a group practice. Hazuki, you will be having your own training with your class representative Huang Lingyin. After school, the two of you are to meet me in this place too. That would be all, now move out!"

Of all people, I have to train with her? I can pretty much tell that she dislike me. And I'm aware that she must be looking down on me more because I lost to Cecilia during the IS combat practice earlier. I wouldn't be too surprised if she were to torture me during our training right now and later after school.

"I can see myself under the stars of bad luck too today..." I whispered mostly to myself as I gave a sigh of defeat.

* * *

><p>And so, right after school, I find myself in the school ground two - where Chifuyu-san asked both me and Rin to meet her. I'm already aware Rin already claimed to see her every day after school in this place because she wants to train me, but to be honest, I don't really understand why Chifuyu-san wants to meet both myself and Rin in this place. If she's just going to give me a sort of detention, then she wouldn't need Rin to come along, isn't it? Well, better not start thinking negatively now.<p>

It took around ten minutes before the two of us could finally see Chifuyu-san as she made her way to our place. She's dressed just like when she's supervising us during the IS practice. Both myself and Rin are already dressed in our IS practice uniform and having our IS ready on standby too, we suspected that there must be a reason of why Chifuyu-san asked the two of us to gather here and it must be related to the IS practice.

"I see that the two of you are all ready with your personal IS," Chifuyu-san said that with a rather satisfied look on her face, probably because she doesn't need to tell us to change again now that we're all ready, "Hazuki, first of all, I want to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"Why did you perform all of the unnecessary sudden boosts when you're being chased by the missiles from Blue Tears?"

"Well, I can't really explain it. To start with, I was reminded by Cecilia of how I cannot perform boost properly while using Seiryuu. Well, I do find it difficult to perform a sudden boost of speed in the place where it has no footing, but not only that, Seiryuu in itself gave me a slightly difficult situation that's detaining the ability to perform it."

"And that slightly difficult situation is..?"

"Seiryuu is too light, Orimura-Sensei."

"What do you mean by it's too light?"

"I think Seiryuu is too light compared to the other IS. While some of the IS has the problem of performing sudden boost of speed because of it's too heavy, I find it difficult to perform sudden boost of speed while using Seiryuu because it's too light. If I'm not careful enough I might lose the balance of Seiryuu anytime and in the very end crash into something."

Chifuyu-san said nothing after I explained all that to her. She seemed to be thinking about something before looking back at me and spoke, "Hazuki, perform the sudden boost of speed that you didn't manage to accomplish while you're facing Cecilia."

"I won't mind to try it again, Orimura-Sensei. But are you sure that-"

"This girl here," she cut my words without even the slightest hesitation as she poked Rin's upper arm, "Will be boosting along with you. If you really cannot boost properly, she should find it easy to catch up with you."

I gazed at Rin for a brief moment and find her expression to be unwilling to do what Chifuyu-san just said. But nonetheless, the two of us are just too afraid to refuse her instructions.

The two of us got up into the air and I started performing sudden boosts, one after another; with Rin following beside me. Once one boost is done, quickly covering it with another; it's that kind of feeling. Before long, I slowly regained that kind of feeling again, the feeling that Seiryuu can go faster and even faster than this. During the combat practice before, I hesitated because of the fact that I'm being chased by the missiles from Blue Tears, but right now, I have no qualms in testing that.

I dashed forward, forcing Seiryuu to accelerate faster, faster and even faster. Before long, I couldn't spot Rin's ShenLong following beside me, I find all of my surroundings passing me in an incredible speed; I almost didn't manage to look at it clearly as it already vanished from sight. The last thing I saw was the wall the surface of something that I crashed into before I can properly think of what that is.

When I come to it, I find myself lying in rubbles. It seemed that I crashed into something even before I realized it. I coughed once and brushed some of the rubbles off of my head, before finding Rin making her way towards me with her ShenLong. She seemed to be surprised, or amazed, I think. Well, the tone of her voice seemed to be in disbelief as well.

"How did you...? I thought you were...?"

I shook my head, forcing my mind to gather all of my wits together back in one place. What was that just now? I thought I was flying in an incredible speed and the next thing I know, I'm already down and covered in rubbles of something. I gazed around - well, still in the training ground. It seems that I didn't crash into the spectator's seats.

"Are you alright, Hazuki?"

Even though she's asking me about my condition, the tone of Chifuyu-san's voice didn't change - still as strict and stern as ever.

"I've been better than now.. but I suppose I'm good." I said that even though I could feel that my head's still spinning.

"That's to be expected. You crashed into the wall of the training ground with high speed. If you're not protected by the Absolute Defense system of your IS, you'd be down with serious injuries all over your body."

"What could have happened, Orimura-Sensei? I thought he was beside me and suddenly something crashed against the wall and the next thing I know, he's already gone and the one that crashed into the wall was him?"

"I suppose you're already aware that I'm an old friend of the inventor of IS, Shinonono Tabane, aren't you?"

I naturally raised an eyebrow at that while Rin simply gave a nod after hearing Chifuyu-san said that. So Chifuyu-san's not only acquainted with the inventor of IS, but she's also her old friend? Suprise, surprise. I already know about her being the Champion of Mondo Grosso, but honestly, I don't know about her being acquainted and not to mention being an old friend of the IS inventor. Well, it's not like I want her to tell me about it; but to be honest, if I were her, I'd surely brag about having the famous IS inventor as an old friend.

"I remember that there's one time where Tabane mentioned about wanting to make an IS that's based solely on speed, making an IS that's capable of taking down the enemies with quick, critical and devastating strikes. However, at that time, she hasn't found how to make such a heavy IS capable of performing such a sudden burst of speed and thus turning the plan of creating the said IS down."

"What's the connection of that with Seiryuu, Orimura-Sensei?" I asked her as I got up.

"You claimed that Seiryuu is too light, isn't it? If my suspicion is correct, the weight of Seiryuu is the one that enables you to move at such an incredible speed and while moving at such speed, you should actually be able to change the direction of your movement as you please."

"W-Why are you so sure about that, Orimura-Sensei?"

"Ignition Boost. Even though Seiryuu's movement is much faster compared to the Ignition Boost, the movement of Ignition Boost in itself is based on that. If you pay a closer look, Hazuki, the boosters of your Seiryuu are slightly different compared to the other IS. From my observation, the function of the boosters of your IS has been improved for enhanced maneuverability, allowing you to change direction even while moving at an incredible speed. Unlike Ignition Boost that's only able to be performed at one direction, the boosters of your Seiryuu actually allows you to change the direction while moving at incredible speed. And with enough speed, I think it should be possible for you to leave an after image to confuse your enemy."

"An after image?"

The tone of Rin's voice seemed to be surprised. Well, I bet she must be just as surprised as me. I don't even know that Seiryuu's able to do something like that until now. To be precise, I won't know that Seiryuu's able to do something like that if Chifuyu-san didn't explain about it.

"The one that you saw before, it was his after image."

"I-Impossible..."

"To put it shortly, it's like a faster and refined version of Ignition Boost in itself."

I don't know what she meant by Ignition Boost, but judging from how she talk about it, it must be something incredible.

"If I'm not mistaken, Tabane once mentioned that the ability was called Shinkiro."

Shinkiro..? Mirage, huh? Well, it makes sense with the fact that it's capable of leaving an after-image and stuff...

"The problem now lies in whether you're capable of performing it properly or not, Hazuki. Be aware that it would be necessary for you to be able to perform Ignition Boost properly first before you're able to perform Shinkiro. It's a strong and devastating move to take down your enemies, but one wrong decision and it would backfire against you without any mercy."

I gazed down after hearing that from Chifuyu-san. Well, sure... able to change directions so suddenly while moving at an incredible speed is really cool. But the possibility of crashing into something while moving at an incredible speed is scary too. Just like what Chifuyu-san said earlier, if it's not because of Seiryuu's Absolute Defense system, I would be down with a lot of injuries by now.

"Alright, that should be enough for today. The two of you better head back. Hazuki, if you're still feeling unwell, go to the matron and ask if you could have a brief health check."

"Haii, Orimura-Sensei." the two of us said.

And just like that, Orimura-Sensei left me alone with Rin. In the very end, I gave nothing but a sigh of defeat. First of all, I almost killed myself. Secondly, I discovered Seiryuu's new ability. Third, I need to learn something called Ignition Boost to be able to use Seiryuu's new ability properly. And the last, if I'm not careful enough, Seiryuu's new ability, Shinkiro, could backfire against me.

I gave a deep, long, defeated sigh. This is not getting easier.

"What's with that sigh? You should be grateful that you're fine with no injuries at all, you know!"

Thank you, God~

For the fact that I'm still alive.

"So what are you going to do now, Suou?"

"I don't know... maybe I'm going to try performing Shinkiro once again before going back to the dormitory."

I gazed at Rin who's standing in front of me right now, before trying to move myself forward; only to widen my eyes in surprise when I lose the balance of my body - only to have myself supporting into something to prevent my body from falling into the ground. My vision was blurring for a moment before turning back to normal; it seemed that the fact that Seiryuu was forcing me to move at an incredible speed gave a huge strain to my body and vision - I could feel my whole body trembling and my vision blurring for a moment earlier.

I shook my head once before having my attention perked up before hearing the sound of something mechanical moving.

"Suou..."

When I'm about to shift my sight towards Rin, something impacted against the wall just a few inches away from my head; creating a rather large crater upon it. I narrowed my eyes in surprise... before realizing I accidentally placed my hand against Rin's chest in order to support my body earlier.

"Even after what happened two days ago.. it seemed that you actually still have the guts to do something so brash to me..."

Those eyes! Those lifeless Yandere eyes!

"Wait, wait! Rin!" I put both of my hands in front of me in a defensive manner, giving my best to explain to her that, "It's just an accident, Rin! Really! I didn't mean to do something like that! My whole body trembled and my vision was blurring earlier so I have no choice but-"

Before I manage to finish my sentence, something impacted against the crater that was placed a few inches away from my head; creating an even deeper hole than before. My left eye gave a twitch. And that very moment I realized that if I don't get away from here... I'm a goner.

"You have no choice but touching my chest...? Don't worry, Suou, today I'll make sure to finish you off for good..."

That very moment, I dashed away from my previous spot; trying to get away while avoiding the barrage of attack from her Dragon Cannon at the same time.

"Get back here, stupid Suou! I'll make sure to blow a gigantic hole through you!"

Please, give me a break!


	3. Scarred Wings

The thing that Chifuyu-san told me yesterday, to be honest, it's still bothering me. Shinkiro is a much faster and refined version of Ignition Boost, whatever that is; but if I'm not careful, it would backfire against me without any mercy. From everything that she explained to me yesterday, I conclude that Shinkiro is somewhat a more advanced version of this Ignition Boost thing and because of that I have to be able to perform Ignition Boost properly first before able to use Shinkiro.

But still... the more I think about it, it doesn't explain why my whole body trembled and my sight blurred yesterday after using it. I don't think crashing into the wall would cause something like that, because I'm pretty much sure that Seiryuu's Absolute Defense system would do something to decrease the damage. In the end, I could only conclude that Shinkiro gave a huge strain to my body because I could feel a great exhaustion right after that, but it doesn't explain my sight was blurring as well. It feels like I've been hit by something really hard in the head that it caused my whole body to shake violently before returning back to normal after a split second. It's not a pleasant feeling, to be honest.

After school, I decided to give Ichika a visit in his class (after telling Rin that I would ask him to train me, of course. It took quite some time to make her finally talk to me and took even more time to convince her that I'd be really training with Ichika today. Well, if Ichika turned out to be unable to help me today, I figured that I'd train by myself after school. Besides, if possible, I'd like to avoid her for a few days first considering what happened yesterday. It wouldn't be nice having a training while knowing that your trainer's willing to kill you anytime at the same time), to ask him if he mind giving me a little training in using IS.

Given the fact that he's more experienced than me, I bet he should know some tips or tricks on how to ride an IS properly. And properly as in not losing control in the middle of riding it and not crashing into something while attempting to ride it.

If you're going to think about why I didn't just ask Rin about something like that given the fact that we're studying in the same class... well, considering what happened between the two of us, I don't think she'd give something like that to me easily. And besides, I'm already aware that it would be better if I avoid her for a few days first considering what happened yesterday.

Oh, putting that aside, I heard most of the other Representative Cadets are placed in his class too. From what I heard from the girls in class, the Representative Cadets from England, the Representative Cadet from France, and the Representative Cadet from Germany are all placed in his class. I'm not really sure, but judging from all the gossips around the school about him and the other Representative Cadets, I suppose Ichika have his days around the school rough too.

When I come out of the class, I saw him making his way back to the dormitory and so I took no time to go after him, "Ichika!"

Ichika stopped on his way and turned around. I saw one of his eyebrows arched when turning around, probably wondering who called him, but his expression turned back to normal when he saw me, I think, "Oh, Suou. Been a while, right? What is it?"

"Ichika, do you have some free time today?"

"Free time? Well, I think I do... why is it?"

"I want you to train me in using IS. You're the First Representative Cadet of Japan, isn't it? You should be far more experienced in me, so I think it should be a piece of cake if you're the one teaching me."

"You might be exaggerating about that really, Suou," he chuckled, rubbing the back of his head, "But instead of me being the one training you, how about we just train together? It would be good if the two of us give our best in this thing, right?"

Well, it's not a bad suggestion to be honest. And so I gave a nod, "I don't really mind if it's like that."

The two of us made our way to the training ground after agreeing to that point, taking our time to change our school uniform into the IS practice uniform in the Arena's changing room before heading to the school ground where I practiced with Rin yesterday. Much to our surprise, we found Chifuyu-san already there, seemed to be searching for something before she noticed us.

"Orimura and Hazuki? What are the two of you doing here?"

"Oh, Chifuyu-nee, we're just-"

I instinctively moved to the side the moment Chifuyu-san smacked the top of Ichika's head with her first, actually narrowing her eyes as she stated: "That's Orimura-Sensei for you. Don't forget about that."

"Go-Gomenasai... Orimura-Sensei..."

"How many times do I have to remind you about that, Orimura?"

What a creep. That was really scary. Even though Ichika is her own brother, she's not even hesitating in using violence? Even though they're siblings, I can see for myself that their personalities are really in contrast with each other. My left eye gave a twitch along the way. Are they seriously like that? I always thought that Chifuyu-san would go easy on Ichika because he's her younger brother, but it turned out that doesn't seem to be the case. But now I know why most of the people here in this IS Academy avoid having a problem with her. Not only that she's a strict person by nature, the fact that she's also the former Mondo Grosso champion makes her seemed almost invincible.

"And so, what are you doing here, Orimura, Hazuki?"

"We, We're thinking of doing a small practice in using IS," I said to her, "Given the fact that Ichika is the First Representative Cadet of Japan and the only male other than me who's capable of using IS, I think it would be easier for me to understand the whole concept of IS completely. He might've some tricks that might be able to help me to understand Seiryuu to the core as well."

"Oh, so the name of your IS is Seiryuu, huh?" I shifted my attention to Ichika after hearing him saying that, "That sounds cool."

"What's the name of your IS?" I asked him back in return out of curiosity.

"My IS? It's called Byakushiki," he replied to me with a rather carefree smile as he chuckled, "It's modeled after the IS that was used by Chifuyu-ne - I mean, Orimura-Sensei during the Mondo Grosso International Fighting Tournament."

Well, I could say that he switched saying "Chifuyu-nee" into "Orimura-Sensei" because of the fact that Chifuyu-san's glaring behind him. I could really say that he realized that suddenly dangerous situation so he switched from saying "Chifuyu-nee" into saying "Orimura-Sensei" instead. But I won't really blame him for doing that, really. Her glare gives me the creeps along the way so I decided to say nothing. Commenting about something like that might result to Chifuyu-san smacking the top of my head like what she did to Ichika earlier.

"How about yourself? What are you doing here after school like this, Orimura-Sensei?" I asked her back in return out of curiosity.

"Me? I'm making sure that the damage that was caused to the training wall by a certain student yesterday has been fixed."

I hung my head in shame that instant. Chifuyu-san could be really frank about something like that... she would really say something like that without any mercy...

Putting that aside, Ichika's IS is called Byakushiki, huh? And the fact that his Byakushiki is modeled after Chifuyu-san's IS that she used to become the Mondo Gross International Fighting Tournament, that only give more proof that considering all of the Representative Cadets studying in this IS Academy, Ichika might be the strongest and obviously, I'm the weakest.

Somehow, I feel depressed after knowing about that fact but it can't be helped. During the combat practice with Rin (where it's to determine whether I'm worthy enough or not to develop my potentials in IS piloting), having her cornered in itself was really hard, if not impossible that is. In return, she gained almost perfect advantage during our fight because of her Dragon Cannon - implying that her IS, ShenLong, was designed for close-to-middle range combat, while my Seiryuu was designed solely for the sake of close-range combat.

During the fight with Cecilia, I could really say that it's a crushing defeat. Knowing the fact that her Blue Tears gained perfect advantage because it's designed for middle-to-long range combat didn't help even the slightest bit; her Blue Tears is a kind of IS that could be considered as the natural enemy of my Seiryuu that once again, designed solely for the sake of close-range combat. Unlike the combat practice where my enemy was Rin, I didn't even manage to get close to her; let alone putting a scratch to her Blue Tears. It's a perfectly crushing defeat. As much as I want to win against her during that time, if I still don't know what trick that I could use against an IS like her Blue Tears, there's only little to no chance for me to accomplish that goal.

And considering what I concluded earlier too, the fact that Byakushiki was made with the IS Chifuyu-san used to win the Mondo Grosso International Fighting Tournament must mean that it's hella strong - and the fact that Ichika is the younger brother of the Mondo Gross Champion must mean that he's hella strong as well. Well, I haven't seen him in IS combat practice for real, but I get the feeling that he must be the strongest Representative Cadet in this whole IS Academy. Even though the two of us are boys, I suppose I could say that our abilities are in contrast - with him being the strongest (I think) and myself being the weakest.

I gave a long, deep, defeated sigh. Even though I'm the only other male than Ichika who's capable of using IS, maybe I'm just not the right person to do it. There must be some other males other than me and Ichika capable of using IS, even though I'm not really sure if it's true or not. But hopefully, it would be the case.

"So the two of you decided to have a practice together? Well, I don't particularly mind the two of you doing that. It wouldn't be bad for Orimura to intensify his ability in using IS. As for you, Hazuki, this would be a good chance for you too to learn because your ability to use IS has been considered as extremely lacking."

I feel like something really sharp pierced through my innocent heart. Maybe saying innocent might exaggerating, but nonetheless it feels like that. Chifuyu-san, I would really appreciate it if you would be more considerate with your words, really. I know that saying something directly to the point is good, but to say something like that so frankly like that... you're making me feel like I wanna cry.

"What are the two of you waiting for? Get ready with your IS, I will stay here to supervise you."

"I thought you usually head back to the Teacher's Dormitory once the lesson's all done, Chifuyu-ne - I mean, Orimura-Sensei!"

"Let's just say that I need to keep an eye on Hazuki as well because he caused quite a lot of trouble yesterday," Chifuyu-san's words pierced through me like a spear; it's not like I can help it about what happened yesterday, "It's the duty of a teacher to watch over their troublesome students and make sure that they will behave according to the rules and manners."

Spare me, please, Chifuyu-san.

And so, both myself and Ichika made our way to the center of the school ground before equipping ourselves with our IS, Ichika equipping himself with Byakushiki while I'm equipping myself with Seiryuu. The two of us took no time to hover up higher into the air before preparing our weapons; I'm actually a bit surprised to know that he's using a katana just like me - well, Ichika seemed to be surprised at that fact too.

"Oh, it's a surprise, you're using a katana for the armament of your IS too, Suou?"

"Yeah, I figured that my IS was solely designed for the sake of close range combat, so I'm not really surprised to know that Seiryuu's only armed with this. The sword's called Futagoryuu."

"Your Seiryuu's almost similar to my Byakushiki, huh? Byakushiki's armed with Yukihira Type-Two, it's the sole weapon that Chifu- eh, Orimura-Sensei used to win the Mondo Grosso International Fighting Tournament."

Even the weapon's perfectly the same... judging from the appearance it's more like a more advanced and upgraded version of Seiryuu's Futagoryuu. But considering the fact Byakushiki's modeled after the IS that Chifuyu-san used to win the Mondo Gross International Fighting Tournament, I shouldn't be surprised at that fact - actually, I should consider that it's normal. But that doesn't help this depressed feeling even the slightest bit.

"Alright, are the two of you, ready?"

"Anytime."

"Start it whenever you want, Orimura-Sensei."

"Alright then... start!"

Much to my own surprise, the two of us used the same movement, dashing back as if suspecting that either of us would charge forward for the first strike. But thinking about something like that won't help me getting better in using Seiryuu, let alone knowing what Ignition Boost is, how to use it, and how to perform Shinkiro correctly. I dashed to the side for a split second before accelerating forward, attempting to give the first strike of this practice; only to widen my eyes when he dashed to the side to avoid it with little to no effort.

"You can do better than that, Suou!"

I almost instantly dashed downward, avoiding his Yukihira just in time before dashing forward and preparing Futagoryuu to strike him in a wide arc; only to clench my teeth when he parried it with his Yukihira.

"You're good... Ichika..." I said to him with a small grin, somehow feeling excited for no reason.

"You too... Suou."

The two of us forces each other back with little to no effort; the collision between my Futagoryuu and his Yukihira must've caused enough energy collision that caused the two of us to be able to push each other back with little to no effort.

"Alright, now let's get serious."

Suddenly, the blade of his Yukihira split and an energy blade came out of it, making it more like a light saber instead of just a metallic sword infused with IS energy. So there's a trick in that, huh? Now I think I get why it's being called Yukihira Type Two. It must be because the first type of Yukihira unable to change into a light saber like that, I think. It kinda gives me the feeling that I'm watching a crossover between humanoid robot age and Star Wars, but nonetheless, I smiled.

Moving on, the two of us took no time to chase after each other, attempting to get the status of 'the one who placed the first strike' during the match... probably. I don't know if he's thinking like that too, but judging from how he reacted, that seemed to be the case, hopefully.

"You might be right, it's time to get serious," I said to him. Hopefully, this time I'm not just big mouthing but at least be able to pull something off, "Seiryuu, Equipment Selection."

[ FUTAGORYUU - DUAL MODE ]

In no time, the blade of Futagoryuu split into two thinner energy blades and I prepared myself with those. Much to my own surprise, Ichika actually chuckled after I split the blade of Futagoryuu into two.

"It seemed that you have something up your sleeves too, Suou."

"I suppose I could say the same thing to you, Ichika."

The two of us charged forward and now parrying each other's blades with all of our might before pushing each other back with a rather tremendous force. When I took my time to balance my footing, the holographic screen that suddenly visualizes in front of me caused me to dash to the side; avoiding the strike from Ichika's Yukihira. A few milliseconds of late responding, I'd be down in the ground because of that strike.

That being said, I took no time to charge towards Ichika, only to have him dodging most of my attacks with ease. I clenched my teeth, even though both of our IS has been designed for close-range combat, does that mean something like this happening because of my lack of ability? Because I cannot catch up with him? Because I cannot use Seiryuu properly?

Eventually, the two of us stopped chasing each other and now hovering high in the air above the school ground; looking at each other with a small grin placed to our lips. But much to my own surprise, a split second after I blinked, Ichika already vanished from my sight; only to widen my eyes in surprise when he suddenly appeared on my left side with his Yukihira ready to strike. Unable to catch up with Seiryuu's response because of the surprise, I was struck down - but able to regain my senses and prevent Seiryuu from crashing into the ground just in time.

"What... was that just now?" I asked, mostly to myself in confusion. How did he manage to vanish from my sight just after I blink and then re-appearing beside me and struck me down?

"That was Ignition Boost, it's a move that was taught to me by Chifu- Orimura-Sensei not too long ago. It proves to come in handy in battles like this."

That was Ignition Boost? How did he... how did it even work? I should really think about it, to figure how it works. He was in front of me for a moment but then I blinked and the next time I realize it, he's already beside me striking me down. The only way possible to do something like this is to boost to the side with an incredible speed before changing direction and striking the enemy down. But how...

Wait a minute. Chifuyu-san mentioned that the boosters of my IS has been modified for enhanced maneuverability, so it should actually be possible for me to do something like that. But how to do it properly... I won't know unless someone explain it to me. I shouldn't be focusing on being able to perform that Ignition Boost just like Ichika, but I suppose I should be more focusing on how to overcome that Ignition Boost of his. If I don't find any trick to overcome it sooner or later, it would be pointless to have a training like this. I want to be better in using Seiryuu.

"Are you alright, Suou? Do you want to stop here for now?"

"I thank you for your consideration, Ichika," I said to him, shaking my head along the way in the process, "But I'm fine. Let's continue this."

As I said that to Ichika, I saw nothing but a smile upon his expression. It seemed that he's relieved that I'm fine, but at the same time, I'm actually wondering of why just one strike from Yukihira drained quite an amount of shield energy - even more than receiving the impact from Rin's Dragon Cannon and Cecilia's sniper rifle. Well, no use thinking about that right now. I shook my head once before gazing at Ichika and gave him a nod, a gesture that it'd be alright to continue the practice for now.

The two of us took our stances before once again dashing at each other and having our energy blades colliding; taking a split second before pushing each other back and starting to chase each other every now and then.

If I want to at least gain a slight advantage while facing him while managing to overcome his Ignition Boost at the same time, I need to go faster than his normal boost and also his Ignition Boost. This is a chance where I might be able to use Shinkiro properly. And so I started performing sudden boosts, one after another; knowing very well that Ichika's chasing right behind me. Before long, I lost sight of him and once again everything starting to pass through me in an incredible speed.

The moment I was reminded about Chifuyu-san telling me that I should be able to change direction while moving at an incredible speed like this, I widened my eyes in surprise. It feels like that my sight and internal organs were shaken forcefully and that very moment I could see everything that was passing me with an incredible speed slowly turning back to normal and in an instant, my whole body was numb. My vision was blurring and that very moment I realized I lost control of my body. Both myself and Seiryuu are falling.

I extended my hand forward as I could feel myself falling, attempting to grab into something... anything... that might be able to prevent me from falling down even further. I can't see anything. I can't breathe. The last thing I heard was the sound of something mechanical flying in high speed near me.

"Suou! Suou!"

I opened my eyes ever so slowly after hearing that voice, forcing myself to breath normally at the same time. I can't see the one in front of me very clearly even though I can pretty much tell that from the voice, the one who called me was Ichika and the one standing beside him must be Chifuyu-san. I closed my eyes again, shaking my head lightly before placing a hand against my forehead - before moving it down slightly to cover my eyes. I opened my eyes again after a moment and I noticed that my sight's slowly shifting back to normal.

"How are you feeling, Hazuki?"

I narrowed my eyes.

"I don't... really know what to say... Orimura-Sensei..."

"Were you attempting to perform Shinkiro earlier?"

"Yes, I-"

"This might be a little rash to say something like this, considering the fact that you learned about the fact that Seiryuu is capable of performing Shinkiro just yesterday. But after seeing something like this, I figured that I should be telling you this now. Give up on learning Shinkiro."

What...? Why...?

"What is Shinkiro, Chifuyu-ne - I mean, Orimura-Sensei?"

"Shinkiro is an ability similar to Ignition Boost, but much faster and like a refined version of it and only Hazuki's Seiryuu capable of performing it."

I winced. It's like something trying to split my head into two, "Why... would you suggest something like me giving up on learning Shinkiro... Orimura-Sensei?"

"Before I answer that, tell me, Hazuki. How many times have you tried to perform Shinkiro?"

If I should count the fail attempt to perform Shinkiro while facing Cecilia... and the one while practicing with Rin yesterday...

"... this would be the third time... I suppose..."

"Have you succeeded just even once?"

"No, but-"

"I figured as much. The reason of why you cannot perform Shinkiro properly, I deduced that it's not because you cannot perform the Ignition Boost or because you're still lacking in your ability to ride an IS. It's because you're unable to catch up with the speed of all the responses provided by Seiryuu, that you ended up losing balance and failing on your attempt to perform Shinkiro."

I closed my eyes. The pain on my head almost preventing me to listening to her fully, but nonetheless I tried my best to listen to her explanation.

"From my observation, it seemed like the movement Shinkiro is similar to the principle of sonic boom. It's just similar to applying the principle of air resistance. When something move, the air in front of it is pushed away and at the same time, the air also moves in proportion to the object's speed. However, when something goes past the speed of sound, the air wouldn't be able to avoid the object anymore and in return, the air resistance would suddenly become huge and when it breaks open it would make a shockwave known as the sonic boom."

I gazed down when I could feel Chifuyu-san's sight upon me; as if trying to pierce through me.

"While the movement of Shinkiro in itself is not as fast as the speed of sound and it's obviously unable to leave a sonic boom, I would categorize it as moving in an incredible speed as it's actually capable of leaving an after image. When a person's forced to move at an incredible speed, unlike when moving at a normal speed, the person would be forced to process everything it saw almost at the same time. Knowing the fact that things that are moving at an incredible speed could be considered as highly difficult to control without proper abilities or skills, the person would also be forced to think of a way to not crash into something when moving at the said incredible speed. In this case, however, we could consider Seiryuu to be the one giving advices and directions in order not to crash. That in itself, however, would only give more strain to the brain or in the other words, it would cause the brain to be overwhelmed.

When moving at an incredible speed, the person's body would also be forced to adapt to such extreme situation. However, it would be highly impossible as the air resistance could be considered moving at an incredible speed at the same time and leaving little to no oxygen for the person to breathe on. The lack of air and oxygen would cause a problem in breathing, just like what you experienced, Hazuki.

To put it shortly, your body and brain cannot keep up with all of the output given by Seiryuu while performing Shinkiro and as a result, it gave a huge strain to those areas. And judging from what have happened, it seemed that it's true that Shinkiro gave a huge burden to both your vision and your breathing. You took quite some time to look and recognize us after being caught by Orimura, not to mention that while you're out cold, you seemed to have a problem to breathe normally."

I narrowed my eyes in shame. Chifuyu-san could tell all that just from one observation...

"Unless you're a robotic being or a super human, Id's say that it'd be impossible for you to be able to perform Shinkiro correctly - and correctly as in not injuring yourself in the process. Judging from how you reacted and how you failed on all of your attempts to perform Shinkiro, I believe that you're already aware that it's impossible to catch up with Seiryuu's response during the process of performing it. If you're going to claim it's possible, I'd ask you how you end up crashing during the first and second time trying it and how did you end up losing the control of your own IS, not to mention fainted as well this time. I think Tabane already figured that this must be the major flaw in Shinkiro and I suppose that's why even though Shinkiro is a much faster and refined version of Ignition Boost, she decided not to equip that ability to the next IS she invented."

"But Orimura-Sensei," I tried to reason with her, "I'm still able to-"

"In the worst case scenario, forcing yourself to perform Shinkiro might cause Seiryuu to incapacitate you permanently and if your vision cannot hold on anymore, it will diminish and there's no doubt that you'll suffer from it. As a teacher with the duty to take care of her students, starting from today, I shall say that you're banned from performing Shinkiro. If you value yourself, you'd listen to me."

"Bu-But, Chifuyu-nee... how did something like this happen? I thought all of the IS pilots are being protected by the Absolute Defense system?"

"Indeed, Absolute Defense system does protect all of the people capable of riding IS. But let me remind you that Absolute Defense system was activated by the IS, not the pilot. If the attack is deemed by the IS as not life-threatening to cause serious injury to its pilot, IS would not activate the Absolute Defense system, even if it results in minor until moderate injury to its pilot."

"T-That doesn't explain how something like this could happen-"

"Orimura. The Absolute Defense system protects the pilot from the attacks coming from the outside of the IS, not from the inside. Put it like this, if someone who's sick decided to ride an IS, do you think she would be able to ride it normally? If the pilot's the one unable to control the IS, despite the fact that the IS has been equipped with the Absolute Defense system, do you think it would do something when it turns out that the problem is the pilot itself?"

I gazed down in defeat. The third time I tried to perform Shinkiro, I failed. And even though this is not really a combat practice, this is still my loss to Ichika - the third loss in IS combat practice. I don't really believe in the phrase "Three times a charm" anymore now...

"But Orimura-Sensei, I'm still-"

"Hazuki, if you still insist on performing Shinkiro, then find a method where it wouldn't strain your brain and your body while performing it. Until then, you're banned from using it."

I tried to reason with her for the last time... but it failed. I know that there's the possibility of Seiryuu incapacitating me while using Shinkiro and that I might suffer from diminished sight if my vision cannot hold on anymore, but just this one time... just this one time... if only I could find about something that might let me use Shinkiro without injuring myself... if only I could find something that would let me become better than my present self now...

"Orimura, take him back to the Boys Dormitory. Go to the matron and ask her to give Hazuki a brief health check."

"Ha-Haii, Chifuyu-nee!"

Just like that, Chifuyu-san left me with Ichika. When Ichika un-equipped Byakushiki from his body, that's when I realize that I'm not equipped with Seiryuu anymore. It seemed that Seiryuu went to inactive mode when I was out cold. And so, I just remained silent when Ichika helped me up and placed a hand of mine over his shoulder. If possible, I'd like to walk on my own feet - but even though my sight has been restored to normal, I still have a slight problem in breathing and I still could feel all of my internal organs as if trembling as well.

"Let's get back to the dormitory, Suou."

"Sure..."

When I think about it now... I think it's not fair. Just for a moment, after fighting Cecilia, I managed to discover something that might be able to help me being at least in the same position with the other Representative Cadets, not being the weakest among them. But right now, after Chifuyu-san told me something like this - that if I value myself, it'd be better for me to stop learning about Shinkiro, it seemed as if I have little to no hope in having special characteristics like the other Representative Cadets - Rin with her Dragon Cannon, Cecilia with her sniping ability, and Ichika with his Yukihira and Ignition Boost. Getting better in using IS and becoming stronger without using Shinkiro, that's probably the best thing that I could do once I'm recovered.


End file.
